Good Governance

Our objective is to operate our business in an honest, transparent and ethical manner, protecting company assets and working in the best interests of all our stakeholders.

Good governance ensures that the decisions we make are the right ones for the business and our stakeholders.

We adopt best-practice approaches to governance issues, irrespective of requirements and regulation, because we believe it makes us stronger as a business, more attractive to our employees, and facilitates better relationships with our supply chain and local communities. 

Memberships, partnerships and affiliations

Quintain holds corporate memberships or affiliations with the following:

  • British Property Federation (BPF)
  • New London Architecture (NLA)
  • UK Apartment Association (UKAA)
  • Urban Land Institute (ULI)
  • The British Council for Offices
  • UK Green Building Council (UKGBC)
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    Sustainability Steering Group (SSG)

    It is the role of the SSG to identify the sustainability issues that are material to the business, set objectives against those issues and recommend appropriate courses of action to deliver against those objectives to the operational board.

    In 2020, the SSG revitalised the company's sustainability strategy and set clear objectives across key issues identified in relation to our three sustainability pillars: People, Place and Property. 

    The committee draws on expertise from across the business, bringing a range of perspectives and experiences relevant to our objectives.

    Individuals are invited to join the committee based firstly on the individual's expertise in one of more of Quintain's strategic objectives for ESG, secondly their ability to influence and effect change and lastly their proficiency to practically implement policies and assist with data gathering. Overseen by a keen sense of governance, communications and reporting.

    Clare Masters - Chair and Head of Sustainability

     

    Clare joined Quintain in December 2021. 

    Setting our commitment to achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2040 was a big milestone for the company. It took a huge amount of background work to understand our emissions, our scope of influence and to identify areas of improvement, particularly on data management and analysis. We reviewed our processes and requirements, taking a hard look at the standards and targets we are setting now and that we need to apply to all parts of our business operations to be as sustainable as possible. We are fortunate to work with, and partner with, a very capable and enthusiastic supply chain who have been instrumental in helping shift behaviours and standards. Without their support we could not deliver against our targets or continue to build sustainable communities.

    Our tenants, residents and visitors are also a source of inspiration. We take pride in delivering high levels of customer service that do not compromise our ambitions for a sustainable community and this is only possible through our partnerships and collaboration with an engaged supply chain and stakeholders.

    Setting commitments is the easy part: delivering on our promises and creating meaningful changes that will stem rising carbon emissions and the impact that this will have on our residents, tenants and stakeholders is the hard part. Tough decisions will be followed by action, but I have faith that Quintain will deliver on its promises.”

    Focus for 2023: Leading the sustainability agenda for Quintain and demonstrating the benefits of a zero carbon and biodiverse, nature rich development for our residents and stakeholders.  

    Harriet Pask - Director of Corporate Communication

     

    It is just as important to establish goals for carbon emissions and meet targets set by our industry or local council than to truly strive towards making what we are doing authentic. To care, and mean it, is vital and every company the world over should adhere to this.

    My role in leading the communications for the Quintain Group is at the forefront of the management of our reputation, and sustainability reporting is a vital part of this. Being a private company, rather than a listed PLC, should not alter the emphasis we put on lean construction, green building, data analysis and the necessary strategies to address shortfall or gaps in our work. Our website, presentations, speeches and ways of working should be an example others wish to emulate or follow and our sustainability strategy and reporting should reflect this.

    It is the responsibility of those with more experience to guide others; for us this is both a learning curve just as much as a teaching position. We should lean on our industry, key contractors and suppliers to educate us and strive to continue to learn in this ever-changing sphere. Never has the global health of our planet been under more scrutiny and as a large-scale developer, we should be leading the way.

    I am proud of our committee and the appetite every member of Quintain staff has to work towards making our developments a fantastic place to live and work whilst making as little impact on the environment as is possible. It is our responsibility to leave a place and a legacy to be proud of.

    Focus: Completing and publishing Sustainability report, aligning content with corporate website and ensuring responsibility for improvement is felt across the business.

    James Huartson - Head of Estate Services, Wembley Park

    Understanding what impact you have as an organisation on the environment is fundamental to being able to set targets and make positive changes to be more sustainable.

    My role is to deliver a safe, clean and inviting neighbourhood for residents, businesses, workers and visitors to Wembley Park. Managing the environmental impacts of Wembley Park Estate operations is an important part of my role and something that I am passionate about. My engineering background gives me the skills to identify improvements in operational processes and the drive to implement them.

    Measuring the impact of key areas such as energy and water usage along with maximising waste recycling allows us to identify improvement opportunities, set targets and deliver tangible results.
    It is encouraging that Quintain as a developer and operator is taking its responsibilities seriously and has empowered the committee to drive and achieve sustainability targets.

    Focus: Ensuring that estate operations uses electricity and water responsibly, identifying capital investment opportunities to help reduce electricity consumption, to source renewable electricity tariffs for new or renewing electricity supplies and to improve on the 2020 Envac waste recycling figures.

    Jennie Fojtik - Head of Mobilisation

     

    Focus:  Balance of repair versus replace for furnishings.  If ‘replace’ what happens to the old product. Where does it go? Can it be re-purposed?

    Julian Tollast - Head of Masterplanning & Design

    As a trained Architect with over 32 years’ experience working on significant development projects across the full spectrum of typologies I have gained a great breadth and depth of understanding. Leading projects from both the client and consultant side has provided me with the ability to rapidly explore and realise the potential of any opportunity and at any scale, “from District to Doorknob”.

    A combination of design and development experience coupled with skills in project leadership, management and construction has enabled me to build consensus amongst colleagues and stakeholders to help secure planning approvals for two of London’s most significant developments – Wembley Park and the Greenwich Peninsula - and many other projects around the UK.

    At the Masterplan and Infrastructure scale some bold foresight and daring decision making in the early years at Wembley Park is reaping greater environmental benefits in the long term. A clear set of design principles that champion a “Space Positive” approach have ensured that the public realm and residents’ gardens are equally as important as the buildings.

    Whilst the emphasis and metrics in Sustainability may have changed over the years the principles have remained consistent to create and deliver added values across the Economic, Social and Environmental spectrum. It makes no sense to be profligate with resources of any kind.

    Alongside my role at Quintain I am also a Trustee of the National Park City Foundation. Established in 2015 and supported by Quintain the Foundation has guided London to becoming the world’s first National Park City in July 2019. Connecting people with the natural environment around them, creating more “Green and Blue” spaces and championing the values of the natural environment in London to the widest possible audiences.

    Focus: Complete and celebrate the delivery of the Olympic Steps - another hectare of public realm at the heart of Wembley Park. Launch Wemba’s Park in conjunction with the National Park City Development Forum. Secure the permissions for the design and delivery of the second half of Wemba’s Park and enhance the biodiversity of the site. Resolve the optimum approach to reduce embodied carbon in future buildings and reduce operational carbon through reduced consumption and decarbonisation of the site infrastructure. Advance the work with the LSE Apprentices in City Making.

    Mark Simmons - Director | Project & Design Management

    As an architect and project manager – conceiving, designing, building and delivering sustainable places has been at the heart of my working day for the past 25 years. In roles both as consultant and client I have been fortunate to work on challenging schemes from masterplans, to buildings, to the interior fitout of spaces and I have been able to explore and challenge the rationale and sustainability of numerous design decisions along the way.

    The incredible opportunity of Wembley Park as a place and ongoing project where we can continually refine design, but also realise solutions in the built environment, affords a unique prospect for continual evolution of the Quintain sustainability initiatives – which are supported by a clear roadmap to delivering ever-improving design responses to environmental challenges.

    I thrive on the process of taking broad strategic ambitions; defining the decisions needed to refine the underlying objectives; and exploring the detail needed to achieve and deliver the strategy. I am incredibly proud of the buildings and spaces we have created and look forward to driving our designers and projects to deliver greener solutions, underpinned by diminishing levels of embodied carbon and increasing energy efficiency.

    Focus: Ensuring all new design projects have sustainable and environmentally sympathetic thinking at their core; championing these values during their evolution, through construction and into the operation of the built assets delivered to animate the places we create.

     

    Suzanne Henderson-French - HR Business Partner

     

    At Quintain our people are at the centre of what we do and are the driving force behind what we can achieve together.

    From as professional perspective, in my role as HRBP alongside the broader HR team I work closely with teams, managers and key stakeholders across the business to build people capability to shape and implement effective people strategies and initiatives from a people perspective. We act as a local point of people expertise for teams and support implementing new people approaches whilst embracing new solutions.

    I am seeking to discover new opportunities and identify new innovative mechanisms to further embed our company values enabling the business to deliver and potentially exceed on its expectations of itself.

    From a personal perspective, it is a privilege to be part of a steering group within Quintain who through their combined knowledge, skills and experience are committed to the sustainability challenges we face.

    Focus:  The areas of primary focus are, from an employee perspective; 1) to continue to support and develop health and wellbeing initiatives, 2) assist in the implementation of our EDI strategy and 3) the provision of employee data and trend analysis.

    Warren McMeeking - IT Manager, Wembley Park

     

    My primary role is to scope and deliver technical solutions that solve challenges across the different business units. The process usually starts by scoping and defining the issue we are trying to solve. Technology is not always the best solution but without understanding and defining the issue, it is difficult to know where to begin to derive the most value.

    Looking for and finding new solutions is exciting but understanding and leveraging the capabilities of an existing system to solve challenges is where the real value is for us as an operating business. 

    In the exciting space of sensors, data and information we are seeing more and more real world business cases where technology is helping landlords operate their assets more efficiently. While reducing costs we are also reducing waste which all contributes to us achieving our sustainability targets. Having the data to hand allows us to baseline and measure the improvements the changes are having.

    On weekends I can be found fly-fishing for trout on a river bank somewhere. We are members of the Wild Trout Trust which is a conservation charity. Our inspiration is to help protect wild trout and their habitat. A flourishing wild trout population is the sign of a healthy waterway.

    Focus. Look for opportunities where Technology can help us drive operating efficiency and reduce waste.

     

    Laura Ashby - Skills Manager
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     

    We are all responsible for our impact on this earth as individuals and influencers.   Working for a business, we also have a duty of care to each other to try our utmost to implement steps to improve its impact on the environment.

    My role is to manage Wembley Park’s section 106 obligations relating to local apprenticeships, local employment and pathways into the construction industry. We work in partnership with the local authority, our framework contractors and sub-contractors to manage Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects which include a local community fund, charitable giving, employee volunteering schemes and schemes into the construction and property industries. 

    I am currently reviewing how we can further embed sustainability into our CSR work and work with contractors to understand their sustainability and environmental targets and achievements to ensure we have a joined up approach.

    Focus: CSR programmes across community, education and skills; enabling local people to access opportunities within construction & property industries
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